Tourist Attractions & Monuments Northern Macedonia

This mosque (Исхак Челеби Џамија/Ishak Čelebi Džamija) dominates the city center with its 48 m-high minaret. It was built around 1506 thanks to a donation from the cadi (Muslim judge) Ishak Çelebi, and for a long time was the nerve center of Monastrir/Bitola, along with the Yeni mosque. Altered several times over the centuries, it features an interior mezzanine built by French workers in 1912. Recently restored thanks to Turkish funding, the mosque now serves as a tekké for a small Sufi community.

This 600^m2 square (Плоштад Магнолија/Ploštad Magnolija) features an 8.5 m-high equestrian statue of Philip II of Macedonia dating from 2011 and a fountain representing the "Vergina sun" found in the king's tomb in Greek Macedonia. The square owes its name to the Magnolija building constructed in the 1860s to house the Austro-Hungarian consulate. Located at no. 37 Širok-Sokak Street, it now houses the Russian Consulate and the Bure bar. Opposite, at no. 28, note the beautiful corbelled building from the same period.

Situated on a hill that reaches 325 m above sea level, this 108 ha park (Парк на Природата Гази Баба/Park na Prirodata Gazi Baba, Parku Natyror Gazi Baba) is the largest green space in the conurbation. Classified as a nature park in 2015, it comprises a 100-hectare forest planted mainly with cypresses, black pines and oaks. It owes its name to the Turkish poet Aṣik Çelebi, known as Gazi Baba (1520-1572). Originally from Prizren, Kosovo, he is buried in a mausoleum to the southwest of the park, above the Gazi Baba district (38,000 inhabitants, 75% Macedonians).

This Orthodox cave church (Црквата Свети Еразмо Охридски/Crkvata Sveti Erazmo Ohridski) is dedicated to a mysterious local saint, St. Erasmus of Ohrid, a tutelary figure for local Christians since the^5th century. According to legend, the cave and its surroundings were once home to a community of hermits founded by the saint. Extensively altered up to the present day, the church features frescoes painted between the ^13th and ^18th centuries, including a large portrait of Theodore Doukas Comnenus, Byzantine ruler of Macedonia and Thrace after the Crusaders took Constantinople in 1204. It remains one of the country's most important rock churches. Today, it is at the center of a small religious complex. The cult of Erasmus remained strong in the region, even after the arrival of the Slavs. Thus, some 200 m to the south, along the main road, the ruins of a large ^12th-century church, also dedicated to St. Erasmus, were recently uncovered, along with a necropolis containing 124 tombs dating from the ^6th to ^12th centuries. From the St. Erasmus complex, a short cement road (approx. 200 m) leads near the top of the Gabavci hill topped by a cross, where you'll find the rock chapel of St. Catherine (Света Екатерина), where you can enjoy a magnificent panorama of Lake Ohrid. Behind the chapel are the remains of the Engelana fortress founded by the Enhélien tribe in the ^4th century BC.

This Orthodox monastery (Манастир Трескавец/Manastir Treskavec), whose name means "struck by lightning", is completely isolated at 1,280 m above sea level. Dedicated to the dormition of the Mother of God, it houses precious frescoes from the ^14th and ^15th centuries. It also boasts splendid views over the Pelagonian plain and Mount Zlatovrv ("Golden"), just next door, at 1,422 m altitude. The complex was founded by the Serbian king Milutin around 1284 and was subsequently enlarged by his grandson Emperor Dušan, then by the Byzantine emperors Andronic II and Michael IX. But the site's occupation goes back much further. The rock-hewn seats that have guarded the entrance to the site for over 2,000 years bear witness to this. Remains of a temple to Apollo, a fortified town and a ^5th-6th century church have also been discovered. The object of a violent conflict between the Serbian and Macedonian Churches in 2004, Treskavec was inscribed on Unesco's List of World Heritage in Danger from 2006 to 2008. After renovation, some of the ^19th-century annex buildings were destroyed by fire in 2013.

Cohort of angels. Fortunately, the catholicon (main church) was spared. It features a central dome, a narthex and an exonarthex with two domes. Some of the medieval frescoes were lost or badly restored in the ^19th century. However, the exonarthex (fore-vestibule) retains a decoration painted between 1340 and 1360, depicting texts by the ^11th-century Greek poet Christophe de Mytilène. The north cupola features exceptional ^15th-century frescoes by artists from the Kastoria school (Greece). Surrounding Christ, dressed as a Byzantine emperor, is the oldest complete representation of the Heavenly Court, a sort of hierarchical array of the nine types of angelic creatures. The seraphim lead the way. Covered in feathers, they are considered to be the creatures "most inflamed with God's love". Next come the cherubim, symbols of wisdom and science, then the thrones, which turn on themselves and embody God's justice and authority. Then come the dominions, virtues and powers. Behind them are the principalities and archangels. The monastery may also be of interest to hikers. Our tip: take a cab up to the monastery (approx. MKD 500) and then down the superb, relatively easy trail from the monastery to Prilep via the Marko Towers (10 km, 600 m ascent, approx. 3.5 hrs walk).

Closed during our last visit, this municipal museum established in 2000 (Езерски Mузеј на Дојран) presents the flora and fauna of the lake as well as the old technique of fishing with cormorants. Opposite, along Maršal-Tito Street, an information center, meanwhile, operates in summer. Otherwise, the National Museum of Natural History of Skopje has, since 2017, a branch on the heights, next to the clock tower. Here again, we found the door closed. Finally, in the Greek village of Doïrani, another museum dedicated to the lake was also closed.

This is the "Agency for the Promotion and Support of Tourism in the Republic of North Macedonia". Its information office is located in the Gradski Trgovski Centar, along the Vardar, near Macedonia Square. In the absence of a municipal tourist office, this is the place to go for information on visiting the city and the country. But the agency is more concerned with marketing than helping tourists lost in Skopje. It also runs the macedonia-timeless.com website, which is packed with information.

This Orthodox church (Црква Успение на Пресвета Богородица/Crkva Uspenie na Presveta Bogorodica) is a three-nave basilica completed in 1860. The greatest Mijak artists of the ^19th century worked here. The frescoes were painted by Dičo Zograf (1819-1872), a native of Tresonče. The carved wooden iconostasis was designed by Petar Filipovski (1780-1854) and made by his two brothers Marko and Jovan Filipovski. But twelve of the icons were stolen in 2011.

This agency is an offshoot of the Haemus association (haemus.org.mk), which brings together historians, anthropologists and archaeologists. They lead tours throughout the country. In Skopje, several themed tours are offered: Brutalist architecture, Ottoman heritage, Roma culture in Šuto Orizari, love stories in Stara Čaršija, etc. Prices according to number of participants: around €100 for 1-4 people and down to €5-7 for 20 or more. Buses: 3, 3a, 3b, 5, 15, 15a, 23, 27, 35 or 44, "TTs Biser" stop.

At an altitude of 1,230 m, this site (Полетна Платформа Поглед/Poletna Platforma Pogled) offers a beautiful panorama of the Ohrid region. It is used by several paragliding agencies offering tandem jumps, including Paragliding Ohrid (paraglidingohrid.com) and Tandem Paragliding in Macedonia (facebook.com/tandem.flights.mk). It can be reached via an asphalt road from Velestovo, which continues for 12 km to the Asan Dzura hut at 1,480 m altitude.

This Orthodox monastery (Поречки Манастир/Porečki Manastir) was founded around 1282 by the Serbian king Milutin. But most of the current buildings date from the ^19th century. These form a beautiful enclosure around the catholicon, which houses ^18th-century frescoes and fragments of paintings dating from the ^11th to ^13th centuries. On the road to Gorni Manastirec (pop. 10) is a chapel-shaped ossuary built in 1938. It houses the remains of 103 Serbian and pro-Serb monks and inhabitants who were massacred by the Bulgarian army on January 6, 1916.

Located in a park, this 32 m-high tower (Саат-Кула/Saat-Kula) was erected around 1830 to replace a ^16th-century tower. Originally used to indicate prayer times to Muslim inhabitants, it was fitted with a classical clock in 1912, then a Christian cross at its top in 1991. Next to it is a plaque in honor of Swiss Gustave Moynier (1826-1910), president of the International Red Cross and founder of the Bitola Red Cross Committee.

This impressive railway and bus station (Железничка Станица/Železnička Stanica) is the centerpiece of the reconstruction plan that followed the 1963 earthquake. Completed in 1981 and designed in a Brutalist style by the chief architect, the Japanese Kenzo Tange (1913-2005), it is set on a 1,400 m-long, 10.5 m-high bridge with ten railroad tracks. This symbol of Skopje's renaissance required 11,000 t of iron - more than the Eiffel Tower - and 70,000^m3 of concrete. See also "Getting around".

This site (Виничко Кале) houses the ruins of an important Byzantine fortress of the ^5th-7th centuries. It is located on a hill, 450 m above sea level, and overlooks the town of Vinica from 70 m high. We can see the bases of 3 m thick walls, numerous buildings and a Christian basilica. The place was occupied before the Byzantines and again after them. But it is the Byzantines who left the most significant traces here, in particular the famous "Vinica icons" in terracotta, discovered in the necropolis of the fortress in 1978.

Opened in 1991, this private museum (Музеј Џепчиште/Džepčište Muzej, Muzeu i Xhepçishtit) bills itself as "the smallest ethnological museum in the world". Its owner, retired architect and collector Simeon Zlatev, known as Mone, exhibits around 1,150 objects from the ^8th to the ^20th century in a 7.2^m2 room: his mother's wedding dress, weapons, tools, traditional costumes, coins and more. There's only enough room for one visitor at a time. A 9^m2 room serves as a storeroom.

This former Ottoman hammam (Гевгелиски Aмам) dates from the ^17th century. Since its renovation in 2018, it has housed an art gallery of the Gevgelija Museum where temporary exhibitions, classical music concerts and various events are held. Featuring an openwork main dome and three domes, the building is modest in size. It was originally used only for women and was transformed into a municipal public bath in the ^19th century, before being abandoned in the following century. It is the only monument from the Ottoman period preserved in Gevgelija.

This cemetery (Еврејски Гробишта/Evrejski Grobišta) is marked by a large white Moorish-style portico built in the 1920s. It is the oldest Sephardic burial site in the Balkans. It houses around a thousand tombs, the oldest of which date back to 1497, five years after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Monastir/Bitola had up to 5,000 Sephardic inhabitants in the ^19th century. Almost the entire community (3,351 people) was massacred by the Germans in March 1943 at the Treblinka camp in Poland.

This small Orthodox church (Црква Свети Никола/Crkva Sveti Nikola) is home to some of the oldest and best-preserved Byzantine frescoes in the country. However, the dating of these frescoes is the subject of much debate among specialists. The building is also distinguished by its unusual architecture: a short but tall single nave. It was built in two phases, between 1190 and 1290, and belongs to the Varoš district below the Marko towers. The delightful little garden surrounding the building has yielded a wealth of archaeological discoveries: the remains of Slavic dwellings, 170 Greek tombs dating from the ^12th to the ^19th century, and Roman and Serbian jewelry and coins on display at Prilep's national museum. On the façade, three niches are adorned with portraits of Saint Nicholas, painted in the late ^13th century, and two other saints, in the upper niches, added in the ^17th century. At the entrance, an inscription states that the church was completed in 1298 thanks to a donation from a nobleman named Vega, his son Kapsa and his wife Maria. Inside, the decor is superb, with magnificent, well-preserved colors.

Problematic dating. Art historians do not agree with each other. For some, the frescoes were painted in two distinct periods: in 1191 for those in the apse (Adoration of the Lamb of God and Virgin on throne) and around 1298 for the nave (cycles of the Passion and Orthodox feasts, large portraits of saints and prophets). The others would have been painted at the same time, around 1298, but by two separate teams: the apse adopts a "conservative" style similar to the frescoes in the church of St. Panteleimon in Nerezi (near Skopje), while the program for the rest of the church follows a more innovative trend that developed in the Byzantine Empire from the second half of the ^13th century onwards. Among these, the depictions of the Last Supper and Jesus on the Mount of Olives are among the finest in the country. The district of Varoš is a former village that was recently incorporated into the town of Prilep. In the Middle Ages, it was the seat of the Pelagonian bishopric, which explains the presence here of numerous churches, including the ^13th-century Church of St. Demetrios, the ^14th-century Churches of St. Athanasius, St. Peter and St. Paul and the Monastery of Varoš, as well as the ^15th-century Church of the Mother of God.

Ohrid doesn't have a municipal or regional tourist office, but here's the nearest thing to one. Founded in 1975, the Biljana association brings together local historians, archaeologists, ethnologists and tourist guides. By appointment, it organizes guided tours of the monuments of the city of Ohrid, most of the villages on Lake Ohrid and Galičica National Park. It also offers advice and contacts for accommodation in the region.

This archaeological site contains the remains of an early Christian basilica of the ^4th or^5th century (Ранохристијанска Базилика Манчевци/Ranohristijanska Bazilika Mančevci). Discovered in 2007, it preserves the layout of two naves, a large mosaic on the floor and fragments of other mosaics bearing the names of the donors (John and Thomas), a portion of brick wall, three upright columns supporting two reconstructed vaults, as well as various decorative elements in marble.

This Orthodox monastery (Зрзески Манастир/Zrzeski Manastir) has a bedtime name (pronounced "zerzé"), but it's renowned for its ^16th-century frescoes, icons and enchanting setting. Surrounded by cliffs and oak forests, it sits atop a hill at 960 m altitude. Dominated by Mount Dautica (2,178 m), it offers sweeping views over the Pelagonian plain. The complex was founded around 1340 by a Serbian monk named German, and became an important staging post for Serbian kings in the region. It then went through several phases of decline and rebirth, before being fully restored in 2016. Today, it is home to a dozen monks and novices who paint and sell icons. There are several churches and the remains of a religious occupation dating back to the^5th century. Beneath the retaining wall and cliff face lie some 30 caves that served as cells, workshops and tombs for hermits from the ^9th century onwards. It's possible to visit around ten of them. Among them, an ancient chapel preserves a badly damaged fresco.

Onufri frescoes. The highlight of the visit is the catholicon. The main church is dedicated to the Transfiguration (Преображение/Preobraženje), the episode in which Christ reveals his divine nature to the apostles Peter, James and John. Modest in size, without a dome or transept, it was built in the ^14th century and remodeled many times. The interior houses frescoes painted in 1535 by Onufri, Albania's greatest painter, whose secret of sparkling reds has never been discovered. But about half of his works have disappeared here, especially on the vault. Those that remain bear the marks of regular hammering to adhere a plaster to paint new frescoes in the ^18th century. The latter, of poor workmanship, were removed in 1963 to restore one of the masterpieces by the archpriest and painter Onufri. The lower sections are dedicated to the founders of Christian monasticism. Two small scenes are painted on either side of the door: on the left, the apparition of the angel to Saint Pachomius the Great, considered the founder of Christian cenobitism in the ^4th century; on the right, the scene in which Saint Mary the Egyptian, a former prostitute who became a hermit in the^5th century, receives communion from the anchorite Zosimus of Palestine. On the upper sections, the west wall is decorated with the scene of the Communion of the Apostles. Above is a rare depiction of the Old Testament Trinity: the three angels who received Abraham's hospitality are seated before the calf that has just been killed for them. Note, on the left, the heifer lamenting her slaughtered calf: this is the symbol of Mary mourning the death of Christ. The upper sections of the side walls are decorated with the Passion cycle. Five scenes are partially preserved. On the north wall, Christ's death is evoked by the theme of the Anapeson: the adolescent Jesus asleep with his eyes open, with Mary at his side.

Miraculous icons. The wooden iconostasis dates from the ^18th century. It has no real artistic merit, and its two large icons are copies. But not just any copies. These are copies of the country's most famous icons, now on display at the Museum of North Macedonia in Skopje: Christ of Salvation and Eternal Life, painted by Metropolitan Jovan in 1394, and the Virgin Pelagonitissa ("of Pelagonia"), painted by his brother Makarije Zograf in 1422. Note their location. As a rule, the Virgin's icon is placed to the left of the royal doors. Here, however, the Pelagonitissa is on the right and Christ on the left. This is a Zrze tradition. According to legend, the two icons miraculously switched places one night. In the morning, the monks put them back in place, but the following night, the two sacred images were once again found inverted, as if the Virgin Mary insisted on looking in the direction of her son. Since then, the monks have never replaced the two icons (or their copies).

Orthodox Trinity. Behind the iconostasis, the sanctuary is reserved for the communion clergy. But you can still see some of Onufri's frescoes. The apse is adorned with an Orante, the traditional representation of the "praying" Mother of God(orans in Latin), standing with hands raised and outstretched. Nicknamed the "Virgin of the Sign", she symbolizes the arrival of Christ. In a medallion, she carries the rare Christ Emmanuel ("He who will come as Savior", usually depicted as an adolescent). Even more exceptional, however, is the "Christ with three faces" medallion on the vault above the Orante: a figure with three heads, youthful and beardless, representing the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This theme, which Onufri would later repeat in the churches of Kastoria (Greece) and Elbasan (Albania), was unprecedented in the ^16th century. It appeared in a context where some of the local clergy were under Catholic influence. This representation reaffirmed the Orthodox dogma that the Holy Spirit proceeds from God. Catholics, on the other hand, defend the idea of the Filioque ("and of the Son" in Latin), i.e. that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both God and Christ. This is the main point of theological divergence between Eastern and Western Christians.

This tower (Саат-Кула/Saat-Kula, Sahat Kulla) stands some 25 m high with a square base, octagonal shaft and wooden top. Built in 1728/1729, it is one of the country's best-preserved towers, used to indicate prayer times to Muslim inhabitants. Next door is the large Ebu-Bekir-Pacha Mosque, also known as the "Clock Mosque", founded in 1676 and rebuilt in 1944, with a minaret 35 m high dating from 1994.

This museum (Изложбениот Центар Матка/Izložbeniot Centar Matka, Matka Exhibition Center) is housed in the former Matka Dam power plant commissioned in 1938. Managed by the private power company EVN AD Skopje (a subsidiary of the Austrian EVN Group), it presents in a didactic and interactive way the operation of the power plant, the history of the country's electricity network and the process of electricity production in general. Great visit with children.

Left abandoned since independence, this monument (Цветот на Cлободата/Cvetot na Slobodata) nevertheless pays tribute to the fighters of Slavic Macedonia through the centuries. With a height of 12 m, only the metal frame remains today. Erected in 1969 near the archaeological site of Vardarski Rid, this modernist metal structure was moved here, at the top of the hill of Mrzenski (145 m of altitude), in 2005. In the shape of a stylized flower, it is the work of Jordan Grabuloski, who is also responsible for the superb Makedonium in Kruševo.

This museum (Музеј на Град Штип) is the largest, richest and best presented in Eastern Macedonia. Founded in 1950, it is housed in the former complex of the Arsovi family, which dates back to the ^19th century. In the building to the left of the ticket office is the beautiful archaeological collection. Here you can see the ceramics of the Anzabegovo-Vršnik culture, which developed in the Bregalnica Valley between Kočani and Štip from 5300 to 4200 BCThis is also where most of the finds from the sites of Bargala and the Isar fortress are grouped: for example, statuettes of Greek deities from the Roman period, but also rarer objects left by the Avars who invaded the region in the ^6th century. A small ethnological exhibition is relegated to a room in the basement. The second building, to the right of the ticket office, houses the history department, which focuses on the revolt movements of the ^19th century and the wars of the ^20th century. One part is dedicated to the city's Jewish community, which was wiped out by the Holocaust in 1943. Štip has only one Jewish family left. It also has an old Jewish cemetery, just above the municipal cemetery, 3 km southwest of the center. A memorial to Jewish victims has stood next to the museum since 1985. In addition, the museum has two other collections: icons in the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God (Novo Selo district, 1.4 km east) and works of art in the bezistan.

More often referred to as Mali Sveti Vrači ("Little Holy Doctors"), this small medieval Orthodox church (Црква Свети Кузман и Дамјан/Crkva Sveti Kuzman i Damjan) is dedicated to the Anargyrian (who heal "without asking for money") saints, Como and Damian, Arab physicians and martyrs of the ^4th century. Neither its exact date of construction nor its founder are known, but it houses the oldest carved wooden iconostasis in Northern Macedonia. This one was made in the ^14th century and was renovated in 1964. Very precious with its twisted pillars, it is 3 m long and 1.90 m high. The frescoes, most of them very damaged, were made in the same period. Most notable is the beautiful portrait of the Mother of God Episkepis ("Protector" in Greek) carrying the infant Christ. This is shown on the 1,000 denar banknotes. In the apse of the altar stands out the figure of Konstantin Kabasilas, a Byzantine nobleman who was ordained archbishop of Ohrid around 1250. More damaged is the portrait of St. Clement of Ohrid, who holds a small model of the city of which he is the protector. Also recognizable are representations of St. Cosmo (patron saint of surgeons) and St. Damian (patron saint of pharmacists). Leaving the church and continuing up the same stairs, then turning left, you will quickly reach the church of Saints Constantine and Helen, then the church of the Mother of God-Perivleptos and the Gallery of Icons.

This ^16th-century Ottoman bridge (Еленски Скок Мост/Elenski Skok Most, or Elen Skok Köprüsü in Turkish) owes its name "deer jump" to a legend according to which a deer hunted in Mogorče managed to cross the Mala Reka here, before being cured by the inhabitants of Galičnik. The superb stone arch supports a 23 m-long deck. The structure is said to have been designed by Mimar Hajrudin (c. 1490-1570), the designer of the famous Old Bridge in Mostar (1566), Bosnia-Herzegovina. Today, it is used only by hikers and flocks of sheep.

This private art gallery (Галерија Остен) hosts frequent exhibitions of great artists: Dalí, Vasarely, Picasso, Rembrandt... The director, the artist Mice Jankulovski (born 1954), is indeed a collector who owns, among others, several paintings and sculptures by Vasarely. Founded in 1945 by the satirical partisan newspaper Osten, the gallery organizes the World Gallery of Cartoons prize (press cartoons) and the Drawing Biennial with an exhibition of the participating artists in February, at the National Gallery, at the hammam Čifte, on the eastern bank.

This approximately 1.3-hectare pedestrian esplanade (Плоштад Методија Андонов-Ченто/Ploštad Metodija Andonov-Čento) forms Prilep's central square. Here you'll find the tourist office kiosk, located along Goce-Delčev Boulevard, as well as numerous stores, cafés and restaurants with terraces. To the east, the square is bordered by the small Ottoman quarter of the Old Bazaar, itself home to shops of all kinds, and beyond which stand the Clock Tower and the ruins of the Sharia Mosque. The square is named after Prilep politician Metodija Andonov-Čento (1902-1957), who died in prison for his anti-Yugoslav stance. It is home to a statue in his honor, as well as two other recent monuments representing Serbian prince Marko Mrnjavčević (c. 1335-1395) and Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary Gorče Petrov (1865-1921). The square continues south along the pedestrian street named in honor of partisan Metodija Šatorov-Šarlo (1897-1944) to the Prilep River (Прилепска Река/Prilepska Reka), a tributary of the Crna Reka. To the north, beyond Goce-Delčev Boulevard, lies the small Metodija-Andonov-Čento municipal park (approx. 1 ha). This is adorned with a recent statue of Alexander the Great, here wearing a sarissa, the long spear that equipped Macedonian phalanxes. Bordered on the north by the town hall building, the park also features a fountain and a monument to Kruševo pop singer Toše Proeski (1981-2007).

This Orthodox monastery (Мирковски Манастир/Mirkovski Manastir) was founded in 1879, in a period of tension between the Bulgarian and Serbian clergy. It was in fact created by a Bulgarian monk to divert the faithful from the St. Elias Monastery in Banjane, which was then under the Serbian patriarchate. The small catholicon (main church), which dates from 1879, has a rich iconoclast made around 1950 by the last great master of the Debar school, Nestor Alexiev (1878-1969).

This former ^19th-century warehouse (Битолска Магаза/Bitolska Magaza) is superb with its small courtyard, two-storey ashlar and slate roof. It can be visited occasionally, as it houses an art gallery where the municipality organizes temporary exhibitions. This building is one of the few survivors of a whole series of magazas (warehouses) built "en dur" after a wave of fires in the town in the ^mid-19th century destroyed valuable goods previously stored in wooden structures.

Since 2008, this site (Археолошки Локалитет Тумба Маџари/Arheološki Lokalitet Tumba Madžari) has housed the reconstruction of a 1,400^m2 Neolithic village discovered 200 m away in 1971. Six houses and a small "temple", all built of wood, branches and adobe, feature mannequins and copies of objects from the people who lived here between 5800 and 5300 BC. The site was successively occupied by sedentary tribes from the two major Neolithic societies in the territory of North Macedonia: the Anzabegovo-Vršnik culture from the Vardar valley, and the Veluša-Porodin culture from Pelagonia. It included an important place of worship. Several terracotta statuettes of a deity known as Magna Mater ("great mother goddess") were unearthed for the first time. The goddess is depicted in the form of a female bust standing on the roof of a "house". Some of these statuettes, found only in North Macedonia, are on display at the National Archaeological Museum. Less impressive than the reconstruction of the Neolithic lakeside village of the "Bay of Bones" on Lake Ohrid, the Tumba Madžari site is more serious in scientific terms. On-site tours are led by volunteers, students or archaeologists (donations welcome). The site can be reached by bus 23 from the "Place de Macédoine" stop in central Skopje (get off at the "Madžari Khanibal" stop).

This Ottoman mosque (Чарши Џамија/Carši Džamija) is in a state of ruin. It was set on fire by local residents at the end of the civil war in 2001, and the municipality is opposed to its reconstruction. The building was constructed in the early ^15th century and retains most of its minaret, which originally stood 25 m high. The town also boasts another abandoned ^15th-century mosque, along the Prilep river, and a more recent mosque north of the town center.

With its large spider-shaped hall, the Central Post Office (Главната Пошта/Glavna Pošta) is one of Skopje's iconic brutalist buildings. It is the work of the painter and architect Janko Konstantinov (1926-2010). Originally from Bitola, he worked in Northern Europe alongside Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, then in the United States, before participating in the reconstruction of Skopje after the earthquake of 1963. Completed in 1982, the hall houses brightly colored realistic paintings by Borko Lazeski (1917-1993). The back of the building is also remarkable.

This museum (Музеј на Македонската Борба/Muzej na Makedonskata Borba, Muzeu i Luftës Maqedonase) was created in 2011 as part of the "Skopje 2014" project. Installed in a pseudo-neoclassical (and kitsch) building, it presents in a very subjective way the different movements that led to the independence of the country since the ^18th century. The whole is done through 50 paintings made by a Russian artist and 120 wax figures, all almost without any historical object.

This building evoking a white bird (Национална Опера и Балет/Nacionalna Opera i Balet, Opera dhe Baleti Nacional) has almost disappeared amidst the ugly constructions of the "Skopje 2014" project. Yet it was one of the most spectacular achievements of the reconstruction plan that followed the 1963 earthquake. Inaugurated in 1979, it was designed by the Slovenian collective Biro 71, largely influenced by Finnish organic architecture. The interior, with its complex geometric forms, is even more impressive. See also "Going out".

This museum (Археолошки Музеј на Република Северна Македонија/Arheološki Muzej na Republika Severna Makedonija, Muzeu Arkeologjik i Republikës së Maqedonisë së Veriut) was created in 2014 as part of the "Skopje 2014" project. It is located along the Vardar, opposite the "Bridge of Civilizations" footbridge, in a grandiloquent, somewhat ridiculous building with Greek pseudo-columns and a glass façade. It's the country's second-largest museum, after the North Macedonian Museum in Stara Čaršija. Despite its apparent modernity, the presentation is a failure. Explanations are sparse, written too small and placed in showcases far from the visitor. Natural light is absent, replaced by overabundant lighting. Reconstructions, wax statues and contemporary paintings blur the understanding of the real objects. Yet the collections are rich. They cover the period from the Neolithic to the late Middle Ages, in four areas: numismatics (to the right of reception), lapidarium (to the left), and a vast chronological exhibition on the two upper floors. Some of the highlights include gold jewelry from the Hellenistic period, glass amphorae found intact in a Roman tomb at the Zajas site (near Gostivar), domed coins from the Byzantine period, filigree jewelry from the Classical period, and red pottery from the Bronze Age.

This cultural and tourist information center (Култура 365) was founded in 2011 by Ohrid photographer and publisher Mišo Juzmeski (1966-2021). It houses an exhibition center, the Doolaard Museum and a bookshop featuring books about the region in English and French, among others. The staff are on hand to advise on visits to the main monuments in and around the city. The center sometimes organizes guided tours in English and Dutch (ask for details). The team is also planning to open a full-fledged tourist office in Ohrid.

This 1909 neoclassical castle (Ресенски Сарај/Resenski Saraj) bears the Turkish name saraj (pronounced "saraï") meaning "palace". Inspired by the Château de Versailles, it was built for Ahmed Niyazi Bey (1873-1913), the Albanian governor of the Ottoman Empire and a native of Resen. Today, it houses the municipal library, a contemporary ceramics gallery and the town's museum. The latter houses three 4,000-year-old wooden boats discovered almost intact in the mud at Nakolec, on the eastern shore of Lake Prespa.

Founded in 1952, this museum and national institute (НУ Музеј Прилеп/NU Muzej Prilep) is housed in a former World War II Bulgarian police station. It houses collections of history, ethnology and archaeology. The latter is rather rich, with objects and weapons from Neolithic sites in the region, as well as Greek tombs, Serbian and Roman coins and jewelry found in the Varoš district. The history section features some 200 Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons.

Created in 1961, this memorial (Могила на Непобедените/Mogila na Nepobedenite) houses eight enigmatic white sculpted stones evoking flowers or chess pieces. Set in the 7-hectare Revolution Park, it pays tribute to the 800 or so partisans from the region who died during the Second World War. The memorial is the work of the great Serbian designer and architect Bogdan Bogdanović (1922-2010), whose work includes the Flower Monument in the former Jasenovac concentration camp between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia.

This park (Градски Парк/Gradski Park) extends over 10 ha and 740 m in length to the south of Širok-Sokak. Bordered by the former railway station to the east and FK Pelister soccer club's Petar-Miloševski stadium to the west, it is planted with pine, acacia and lime trees. It was created in 1901 by Governor Abdülkerim Paşa. It was here that the officers of the Young Turk movement celebrated their victory on July 24, 1908, when Sultan Abdülhamid restored the Constitution of 1876.

This amazing private museum (Авто & Eтно Музеј/Avto & Etno Muzej) features collections of vintage cars and motorcycles, musical instruments, World War I weapons and traditional costumes. The owner, Boris Tanevski, is very proud of his Simca Ariane and Peugeot 404, his old Opel, Plymouth and Ford, his Russian Moskvič and his Yugoslav Zastava and Volkswagen. After the visit, it's possible to eat and even sleep on site (€30/55 for two with breakfast) to try out the swimming pool and homemade rakija.

The ruins of this fortress (Просек) emerge from the vegetation at 400 m above sea level, just above the beginning of the Demir Kapija gorge. The rectangular layout of the enclosure is still visible. It is the stronghold of the Aromanian lord Dobromir Chrysos who formed a micro-state here at the end of the ^12th century, when the region was disputed between Byzantines, Serbs and Bulgarians. The site was then occupied by another rebel nobleman, the Bulgarian Strez, before falling into oblivion until 1948. A 2.5 km path leads to it from Partizanska Street.

This Orthodox church (Црква Свети Никола/Crkva Sveti Nikola) is the largest in Kruševo. Founded in 1832, it dominates the bazaar district. Destroyed during the 1903 uprising and rebuilt in 1907, it houses a superb iconostasis attributed to Petar Filipovski (1780-1854). It is believed to be the last work of the great cabinetmaker, who was also responsible for the iconostases of the St. John-Bigorski monastery and the Church of St. Saviour in Skopje. Among the icons, the oldest dates back to 1884.

Located on a hill overlooking Prilep at an altitude of 900 m, these "towers" (Маркови Кули/Markovi Kuli) are both rock formations of volcanic origin and the remains of a fortified town. Included on the Unesco tentative list, the site offers beautiful views over the Pelagonian plain and the surrounding massifs. The citadel was built in the second half of the ^14th century on the initiative of the Serbian king Vukašin Mrnjavčević (c. 1320-1371) and his son Prince Marko (c. 1335-1395), whose name remains associated with the site. Both were vassals of the Ottomans and the last two Christian rulers to rule what is now North Macedonia. The hill has been inhabited at least since antiquity, fortified by the Romans and equipped with the first ramparts in the ^13th century. During the reign of the Mrnjavčević family, the small medieval town extended over a 3.6-hectare acropolis surrounded by two rows of ramparts. Three well-preserved square towers stand in the southern part, just above Prilep. After the death of Prince Marko, the Ottomans took possession of the citadel, and the inhabitants moved below, to the present-day district of Varoš. To reach the fortress ruins, follow the Varoš-Markovi Kuli road. At the strange rock formation known as the "Elephant", the asphalt gives way to a carriage road. The road ends near the "towers", but it's another 15-minute walk to get there.

This Orthodox monastery (Раички Манастир/Raički Manastir, Manastiri në Rajçicë) was founded in the ^14th century and completely rebuilt in the ^19th century. It is famous for providing some of the embroidery for the liturgical vestments worn by the Metropolitans (Orthodox bishops) of North Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Beautiful embroideries are sold in the store. Attached to the Macedonian Orthodox Church, this complex is a dependency of the St. John-Bigorvski monastery in Rostuša. It was renovated in 2001 with the support of the Holy Nativity Monastery in Boston, USA, which is part of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis (bishopric) of Boston. The Rajčica monastery is thus occupied by a small community of American and/or English-speaking nuns. It is dedicated to Saint George the Victorious (Sveti Ǵorǵi Pobedonosec). In fact, it houses the only replica of a precious ^10th-century icon "not made by human hands" depicting St. George slaying the dragon, kept at the Bulgarian monastery of Zographou on Mount Athos in Greece. The replica can be seen in the catholicon, the church of St. George. Dating from 1835, it is decorated with frescoes from 1875. It was built on the foundations of a ^16th-century chapel, itself built on the ruins of an ^11th-century castle. Next door, a building houses the nuns' cells, their sewing and embroidery workshops and a small chapel on the upper floor.

Founded in 1348 by the Serbian knight Radoslav Hlapen, this Orthodox church (Црква Свети Спас/Crkva Sveti Spas) is the parish church of Kučevište. Modified in the ^15th and ^16th centuries with the addition of a porch and a strange high chapel, it retains important ^14th-century frescoes, including a portrait of the families of Radoslav Hlapen and the Serbian king Dušan and a beautiful lamentation scene of the Mother of God. On the outside there are still frescoes painted in 1501.

Perched 970 m above sea level, this Orthodox monastery (Кичевски Манастир/Kičevski Manastir) was founded in 1316 and rebuilt in the ^19th century. The monastic buildings form an enclosure around the main church dedicated to the "Pure Virgin" (Bogorodica Prečista). It features remarkable frescoes (1865) by the great Mijak painter Dičo Zograf and a beautiful wooden iconostasis (1864). The complex also houses the small Church of St. Nicholas and an area reserved for Muslims, who once came in large numbers because of miraculous cures attributed to the place.

This memorial (Спомен-Куќа на Али Риза Ефенди/Spomen-Kuḱa na Ali Riza Efendi, Ali Rıza Efendi Anı Evi) was built in 2014 on the supposed site of the family home of Ali Rıza Efendi (1839-1888), the father of Mustafa Kemal, known as Atatürk (c. 1881-1938), who founded the Republic of Turkey in 1923. The site therefore has a certain historical importance for the authorities in Ankara. The Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) financed the work and organized the museography. The small complex comprises two beautiful corbelled houses: an annex and the main dwelling. Both are in the traditional Ottoman style of the region, made of stone and wood... but also with a lot of concrete and modern materials. Five rooms retrace the lives of Atatürk's grandparents, using mannequins, rare period objects and lots of copies of photos, documents, costumes and so on. It's all very kitsch, and accompanied by panels with explanations in English.

The Atatürk myth. According to the official Turkish theory, the original house was destroyed after the departure of the Ottomans in 1912. It would have belonged to Ali Riza Efendi's parents, Kızıl Hafız Ahmet Efendi and Ayşe Hanım. Originally from Karaman, in present-day Turkey, they later moved to Thessalonica, today in Greek Macedonia, in the 1830s. It was in this city that Ali Riza Efendi was born in 1839. While one room shows little Ali playing with his sister, there is no evidence that he ever came to Kodžadžik/Kocacık. He spent his life in Thessalonica. He married Zübeyde Hanım (1856-1923), with whom he had five children, including Mustafa Kemal, and died there at the age of 41, having worked as a customs officer and gone bankrupt in the timber trade. None of this is well explained here. Turkish historians also claim that the site chosen for the reconstruction of the house is the wrong one. This is hardly surprising, given that the Turkish authorities have altered the details of Atatürk's biography in order to build up their myth. In Thessaloniki, for example, the house of Ali Riza Efendi, known as "Atatürk's birthplace", is very popular with Turkish tourists. But this large villa (which also houses a Turkish consulate) is itself a reconstruction. The "Father of the Turks" was not born here, but in another part of the city. The exact date of Atatürk's birth is not known either.